Giving up – the Prelude to Change
From the author of Chocolate for Lent, Hilary Brand
I love chocolate. Dark and bitter, rich and creamy, lemon creams, mint thins, caramels, truffles, pralines, profiteroles, Mars bars, Mississippi mud pies . . . event he names make my mouth water. Caramels, fudge, dream bars and M & M’s. . . . I’ll take all of them all the time.
I also weigh 180 pounds.
I am appalled to see this statement in print, but I gathered up my courage and put it here for a good reason. I want to make an honest admission that, wehre food is concerned, I am very bad indeed at give up. Or, put another way, where diets and exercise are concerned, I am very good at giving up!
I am telling you this to explain that, wonderful as chocolate is, for me it can quite genuinely become an addiction. I know that food is the first thing I turn to when I am stressed, and that he wrong sort of food makes me sluggish and slobbish, a Jabba the Hutt look alike.
I am all too aware that because there is more of me than there ought to be, in other aspects there is perhaps less of me than there could be. I know that when I eat less and exercise more, I have more energy to put into my life. I know that unless I shed a few pounds, I will never be able to see the sunrise from the top of Mount Sinai, wear the latest fashions, or dance without feeling silly – all things I would love to do.
I begin this way to show you one reason at least why Chocolat’s seductive celebration of “if it feels good, do it” needs to be seen with a somewhat critical eye. (Another reason, of course, is the fact that much of the chocolate we eat in the West is produced in the developing world in conditions of near slavery. (see p 123, The Unfair Economics of Chocolate.” or http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/is-there-slavery-in-your-chocolate/)
The films philosophy of indulging yourself, enjoying life, and learning to be yourself very much taps into the “spirit of our age.” Now, there are some very healthy aspects to all of those things. All the same, my knowledge of the Christian faith leads me to wonder whether we should jettison self-denial that easily. It is all too easy to accept the “feel good” message of a movie without thinking. Perhaps we should first explore whether the idea of “giving up something for Lent” – be it chocolate, wine, television, or sex – is valid. Is it even Christian?
Hilary Brand